Improper washing methods are the main cause of paint defects. Tiny scratches called swirls can be produced if you do not wash your car properly. To properly wash it, you need the proper equipment. Here is a list of the top 7 must-have products to properly wash your car without producing swirls. For further instructions on how to properly wash your car, please refer Todd Cooperider’s article: The Grit Guard 2X4 Wash Method.

The number one thing you must have to properly wash your car is two buckets. The first bucket needs to be filled with just water. The second bucket needs to be filled with a water/soap solution. While washing your car, you need to wash only one panel at a time. Once you have done one panel, rinse your wash media out in the bucket filled with just water. Then rinse it out in the bucket that has the water/soap solution in it. The idea here is to rinse all of the dirt out of the wash media in the first bucket. Then put it in the second bucket to load it with soapy water. If done properly all of the dirt and grime will stay in the first bucket. This will clean all of the dirt out of your wash media from the first panel preventing that dirt from being rubbed on the surface of your next panel. After each wash, you should wash out your buckets to remove any dirt in them.

Grit Guards are essential for a swirl free wash; their unique design serves two purposes. The first purpose is to prevent your wash media from contacting dirt in the bottom of the bucket. The second purpose is to prevent the water from moving around in the bucket. If the water moves around in the bucket, it will just stir the dirt from the bottom up allowing it to come into contact with your wash media. Two Grit Guards will be needed, one for each bucket, to ensure no dirt will get back into your wash media.

Sheepskin wash mitts are designed to release dirt. Once you wash a panel you want to rinse the dirt out of it. The sheepskin allows the dirt to easily be flushed out of the mitt. A lot of people use microfiber mitts, but microfiber is designed to trap dirt. While washing your car you don’t want to trap dirt in your mitt. The mitt is being used to break the dirt away from your car’s surface so it can be flushed away during your rinse process. After each wash, you should thoroughly wash out your mitt.

The Gilmour Foamaster allows you to completely cover your car with soap. The soap will then begin to separate the dirt from your car, making it easier to get the dirt off while you are washing. When the dirt is easier to remove, it prevents you from using pressure when washing. Using pressure only grinds the dirt in the paint causing swirls. The best way to use the Foamaster is to first rinse your car off with water, then completely cover your car with soap and let it sit for a minute so the soap can do its job. Then you can start washing.

Drying your car properly is just as important as washing it correctly. If you can remove the majority of the water before you take a towel to it, then it will save you towels and from having to touch the paint more. The Metro Vac n’ Blo is a great way to do this. You simply turn it on, and it blows air at a high rate to blow all of the water off of the car. You don’t have to get it 100% dry but you want to get the majority off of it. Then you can remove the remaining water with a Microfiber Waffle Weave Drying Towel. Removing the majority of the water will make it easier to dry the rest of the car quickly, preventing water spots. It is also great for drying wheels and getting water out of cracks and crevices. If you don’t have an air compressor this is a great way to dry your car! The Vac n’ Blo also doubles as a vacuum and comes with many accessories.

When you dry your car, you want to use a towel that won’t damage your paint. The Microfiber Waffle Weave Drying Towel is a great towel that you can use to safely dry your car. Its weave is designed to absorb water and its fibers are soft enough not to cause damage. If you first dry your car off with the Vac n’ Blo or compressed air, you can easily dry a whole car with one towel. Another key to preventing swirls is to use a lubricant between the towel and the paint. Before you start drying, you need to spray/prep your towel with a lubricant on a side that will touch your car. This will help the towel glide along the paint’s surface while drying. It is also important not to use any pressure while drying. Folding your towel into 4’s will help keep even pressure over the whole towel. Prepping your towel will also help your towel absorb better. Slightly damp microfiber will absorb better than dry microfiber.

Chemical Guys HYBRID V7 is a great product to prep your drying towel. It is a combination of a quick detailer and a spray sealant. This makes it possible to actually apply a layer of protection to your car while you are using it as a lubricant for drying. Before you start drying, just spray each side of the drying towel with Chemical Guys HYBRID V7. You don’t want to soak the towel but just get it damp.

With all of these products and the proper technique, you can wash your car every time without producing any swirls.

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]]>http://www.detailedimage.com/Ask-a-Pro/top-7-must-have-items-for-a-swirl-free-car-wash/feed/14Trip to California to Work on Some Exotics – Car 1 of 7http://www.detailedimage.com/Ask-a-Pro/trip-to-california-to-work-on-some-exotics-car-1-of-7/
http://www.detailedimage.com/Ask-a-Pro/trip-to-california-to-work-on-some-exotics-car-1-of-7/#commentsMon, 06 Aug 2012 11:00:41 +0000http://www.detailedimage.com/Ask-a-Pro/?p=8113

A friend of mine recommended my detailing services to his father and some of his friends out in California. When we first talked, we only talked about doing full correction jobs on 2 cars and possibly a couple more. Not really knowing what all I would be working on I packed up a small arsenal of detailing products and headed to California.

When it was all said and done I did 6 full corrections and also a hybrid correction. I was in California for 23 days and worked 21 straight days while I was there. Most days were at least 8 hours with some up to 14 . The cars I worked on included a Rolls Royce Ghost, Bentley Continental GT Mansory Edition, Ferrari 458 Italia, Ferrari 599 GTB, Ferrari 612 Scaglietti, Ferrari Superamerica, and a Porsche 911 Turbo. It was an incredible learning experience since I encountered the softest paint I had ever worked on and the hardest paint I had ever worked on.

When I got there they wanted me to start on a Rolls Royce Ghost and then we would talk about the other vehicles. When I first looked at the car I noticed a lot of swirls and some deeper scratches here and there. At first I thought this was going to be an easy car to do a full correction on, but I was wrong.

Here are some of the before photos.

As you can see there were lots of swirls and only a few deeper scratches. Since most of the defects looked to be surface defects I thought to myself this one was going to go smooothly and quickly. I started out with your normal 2×4 grit guard wash and then went on to claying the car. When I got to my testing is when I started to get nervous about this correction job. I first tried a Meguiars Microfiber pad and some Meguiars D300, this combo took about 7 passes to get all of the defects out. I always use D300 first as a test to see if I’m dealing with a really hard paint or a really soft paint, SO this test told me it was rock hard paint.

When dealing with really hard paint you have to change up your method to get a lot more cut out of what you have available. After a lot of testing I ended up using a Meguiars Microfiber pad with Meguiars M101. Although M101 is a very aggressive compound and can do some serious damage to paint, it was perfect for this car. Along with an agressive compound I used a very stiff backing plate that wouldn’t absorb much pressure. I also set my DA at speed 6 to get more cut. When I was running the machine on the car I was using a great deal of pressure, enough to make my arms tired after a few hours of working. With these different techniques I was able to knock out most of the defects with 2 passes, compared to 7 passes with normal methods. If I knew I was going to work on this paint again I would definitely use a wool pad.

One thing I was looking out for was the amount of heat I was producing. High speeds and lots of pressure produces a lot of friction, friction produces heat, and heat produces burned paint. I made sure I kept my machine moving and felt the paint to see how hot it was. Just because I was using a DA does not mean that it is completely safe. With very aggressive methods a DA can easily damage paint, even hard paint. On the lighter side, heat can make pads delaminate, warp backing plates, cause oils in compounds to dry out faster, and cause premature machine failure. Heat continues to build up while you are working if you do not let things cool down every once in a while. With this car I would wait between working sections to let my backing plate and pads cool down. I would also cool my backing plate down with compressed air in between sections.

The paint on this thing was incredibly hard but while working on it I noticed how great the paint was. There were no factory defects in the paint at all. The owner of the car explained to me how in-depth Rolls Royce’s painting process was and you could tell. This makes for an outstanding finish when the paint is polished out properly.

Here is a 50/50 shot of the trunk lid when I was working on it.

The next 4 pictures are before and after of some of the deeper scratches. They took a while to get out but as you can see they looked much better after.

The hood of this car was painted matte silver. You can’t really do much with matte paint and if you hit it with your buffer at all you will completely ruin it. Knowing how much this car cost I didn’t want to take any chances at all so I put tape around any area I would come close to with my machine.

This picture is before polishing and after polishing. Compounding with such an aggressive compound was leaving a haze over the whole car so I polished it with some new polishes and pads that I was testing for Meguiars. Jason Rose from Meguiars stopped by to give them to me and gave me some great pointers for working with this ridiculously hard paint.

Chemical Guys E-Zyme curing!!!! I wanted to use a very durable wax that was also going to add a lot of gloss and depth so I went with E-Zyme.

Here are pictures of the areas I photographed before I started. As you can see it looked a lot better once done.

And here we begin with the after shots. The reflection that this thing had afterwards was crazy. As I said earlier when you are working with great paint it looks so good when you are done.

It took me three days to complete this car but when it was done it looked amazing! Hope you guys liked the article and here is a teaser photo of the next article

Exterior trim pieces can become faded over time. That nice dark black look will eventually turn into an ugly grayish/whitish color if you do not take care of it. The best way to prevent this is to apply a durable protectant, but if the damage is already done there is a great product to help restore it. That product is Black WOW.

When I first heard of Black WOW I was skeptical because of the price. Soon after, I heard a lot of good things about it and once I realized how many cars you could do with one bottle, I decided to give it a try. As soon as I used it on my first car I could tell I was going to be a fan, especially because it didn’t require a lot of product to do its job. If you are just using a bottle on your own cars then it will last you a lifetime!

Black WOW is really easy to apply. All you have to do is put a pea-size amount on a Foam Applicator Pad or an All-Purpose Microfiber Towel and rub it onto the trim. Make sure you keep rubbing the product around until you get a nice even coat on the trim. After you get it spread evenly let it sit for a couple minutes, then you will want to go back over it with a dry All-Purpose Microfiber Towel to remove the excess. Once this product dries you will have a great, deep black finish. It may look like it is oily but if you touch it you will find that it transfers nothing to your fingers. If you happen to get some on your paint don’t worry, it will wipe right off.

This product is very durable and is great at repelling water. I first used this product on a Mercury Mountaineer about 5 months ago. When I was writing this article I contacted the owner of the Mountaineer to see how this product was holding up. This is what he had to say:

“The product is just now starting to wear off of the mirrors. It has held up very well and it is only wearing off of the corners and around the curves. The plastic where it has worn off still looks better now than it did before you applied it.”

I am currently working on a BMW 645Ci with some very faded plastic trim so I went straight for the Black WOW. I took a few 50/50 photos to share with you just how good this product is at restoring trim. Here are some of the shots:

Since this plastic section had some texture to it, I used more than I normally would to make sure the product got into every crack. I then went back over it a few times with an All-Purpose Microfiber Towel to make sure I got all of the excess product removed.

A little goes a long way with this product. As you can see from the picture above I have done this entire car (except this last section for photos) and the bottle still looks like it is completely full.

This product can also be used on colors other than black, and you can also use it on fender wells and engine bay compartments!

Black WOW worked great on this BMW and I know that it will last a long time. I’m sure the customer will be very pleased which in turn makes me reciprocate the feeling.

I hope this article will help you with keeping your vehicle looking as good as it can. Thanks for reading!

]]>http://www.detailedimage.com/Ask-a-Pro/product-review-and-how-to-black-wow/feed/3Product Review: Grit Guard Inserthttp://www.detailedimage.com/Ask-a-Pro/product-review-grit-guard-insert/
http://www.detailedimage.com/Ask-a-Pro/product-review-grit-guard-insert/#commentsMon, 11 Jun 2012 16:00:33 +0000http://www.detailedimage.com/Ask-a-Pro/?p=7662Every once in a while a great new tool is created for the detailing industry. Most great tools are created for the polishing side of the industry and are very advanced. But after thinking about all of the great tools we have available there is still one very simple product that tops all of the others. The simple invention of the Grit Guard Insert has completely changed the way that we all wash automobiles.

Swirls have always been dreaded by detailers and car enthusiasts and the majority of swirls are caused by dirty wash medium. Before the grit guard was invented it was hard to keep the dirt from the automobile out of the wash medium you were using. This product has solved that problem in more than one way. The first way is that the grit guard insert now gives a grating surface to rub our wash meduim on to release trapped dirt. Secondly, the grit guard helps prevent the dirty water from stirring around in the bucket drawing dirt back to the top of the bucket. The fins on the bottom of the grit guard insert act as a barrier to block water from moving around in the bucket. Since the water can’t move, the dirt on the bottom of the bucket stays on the bottom instead of moving to the top to get into your wash medium again. Since the invention of the grit guard we can completely rinse our wash medium in between washing panels to prevent swirls.

To be most effective it is a good idea to use two grit guard inserts in your wash bucket and your rinse bucket.

Because of this great product you can wash your cars without worrying about swirls as much, even if you have a black car. As far as the detailing industry has come in the past few years, I would still rate this as one of the most innovative products presented to the industry. For best washing results please review The Grit Guard 2×4 Wash Method.

Whether you are polishing by hand or polishing with a machine it is very important that you tape off certain sections of your car, especially when using a machine. Taping off a car can sometimes be very time consuming but if you take the extra time to do it, it will save you time and money in the end. Meguiar’s makes some great Professional Masking Tape that gets the job done but doesn’t leave behind a lot of tape residue. It also comes in various widths depending on the size of the area you want to tape off. You can use any kind of tape but some just aren’t as adhesive as they should be and others leave a lot of tape residue which can be time consuming to clean up.

What you should tape off:

A general rule of thumb is that you want to tape off anything that you don’t want your buffer to touch. Buffers, when running, can cause damage to anything they touch. Taping off certain areas will ensure that you don’t make a mistake and hit something with your buffer that you didn’t intend to. Along with providing safety, taping can save you a lot of clean-up time by preventing compounding/polishing dust from settling in cracks and crevices. Here are some things you will want to tape off before starting and while you are buffing.

Emblems, Badges and Tail lights:

Taping off emblems, badges, and tail lights will protect them from your buffer. It will also save you a lot of time when you are cleaning up by preventing compound/polish dust from getting into the cracks around the letters and tail lights.

Rubber seals around door jams, windows, and convertible tops:

Taping off any rubber seals will prevent damage from your buffer and also prevent discoloring from various products.

Plastic trim pieces

Plastic trim pieces, just like rubber, can discolor from various products. Taping them off will prevent this. It will also save you from having to clean off compounding/polishing dust that will settle on the plastic.

Door handles and mirrors

Taping off the door handles and mirrors is a must. This will prevent any damage from your buffer rubbing against them while polishing the panel around them.

Washer fluid dispensers

Most washer fluid dispensers are made of plastic, taping them off will prevent damage and discoloring.

Edges of surrounding panels

Taping off the edges of the panels around the area you are working on will help prevent these edges from being burnt from your buffer. As you can see from the picture I taped off the panel that surrounded the gas cap. When I go to polish the rear quarter panel I will then tape off the edges of the gas cap. This is a good idea to do with any panel you are working on.

Clear Bra and Decals

Clear bra material and decals can be damaged or discolored if you go over it while buffing. Tape over the clear bra or decals edge to prevent this. Some curves can be tricky like on the BMW 645 above but just take your time. The edges of most clear bras are a little sticky from the glue that holds the material to the car, so taping over them will help prevent any compounding/polishing dust from sticking to this glue. Notice in the picture above I also taped the edge of the hood and edge of the bumper to work on this front fender.

When you are taping make sure you press the tape down firmly with your finger. This will make sure the tape doesn’t come up while you are buffing. If it does then you can cause damage to the area you taped off and you can get tape residue on your buffing pad which will spread it around the panel.

Its also a good idea to remove any tape when you are done working on that section. If you let the tape sit for a while it can leave tape residue behind when you take it off like in the picture above. If this does happen it can easily be removed using an All Purpose Microfiber Towel and some Meguiar’s All Purpose Cleaner (diluted of course).

Tip: Be careful when removing tape from painted edges or chrome trim pieces. If there is any damage or age to these pieces it could potentialy remove some of the paint and/or chrome. If you are worried about an area, run your tape across your shirt before you put it on to reduce the stickiness.

In January I was sent down to Naples, Florida to do a paint correction detail on a brand new Lamborghini Performante. While I was down there my client also had a Jet Black BMW 645Ci that needed some love. Unfortunately I was so involved with the Lamborghini I didn’t have time to work on it, so once I moved down to Naples it was the first car that I performed a paint correction detail on in Florida.

While inspecting the car I found your typical defects: swirls, straight scratches from towels, deeper scratches from car washes, and a lot of contaminants in the paint. After talking to my clients we agreed on performing a hybrid paint correction detail. This consists of compounding the top surfaces of the vehicle to remove all of the defects and only polishing the bottom surfaces to remove light defects. I started out with your normal Grit Guard 2×4 Wash Method followed by decontaminating with CarPro IronX and then finally claying with a DI Ultra Fine Clay Bar. I went with the Ultra Fine Clay Bar because I knew that Jet Black was notorious for being a softer paint but even using this clay bar caused a little marring.

Here are the before pictures:

As you can see this thing needed a lot of love. I taped off a section of the hood and started testing. Jet Black is a very strange paint to work on. The light defects come out very easy like a soft paint but the deeper ones take a lot to get out like a hard paint. This can be a challenge – trying to find the perfect combinations when compounding and polishing. I started out using a Meguiar’s Microfiber Cutting Disc and Maguiar’s D300 Correction Compound. After a few passes, a lot of pressure, and the right technique I was able to get all of the defects out. Now it was time to find a polish that would work. This can be tricky on this paint because it polishes like really soft paint. I ended up using a Black Finishing Pad with Sonax Nano Paint Cleaner. This is a great product on soft paint and is an all-in-one product so it also provides protection. While polishing I was testing buffer speeds and pressure as I was going. I found that a slower speed and medium pressure was giving me the best results. Sonax Paint Cleaner has a lot of oils in it which can make it tricky to remove from the vehicle. The best way is to use a Great White Microfiber Towel while constantly flipping sides to absorb the oils from the paint. Using the proper amount is also essential to easier removal. You don’t need a lot, this much easily did half of the hood and then some:

Once I found the right combo that worked on this paint I got down to business on the rest of the car.

While I was working I took some great 50/50 shots so you can see the drastic difference I was making:

Since I was only polishing the bottom surfaces I used Sonax Paint Cleaner on those as well. Although it did not take out a lot of the deeper defects it still made a big difference:

I want to show you guys the difference that the Sonax Paint Cleaner made after compounding. I got the paint to finish down pretty good when I was compounding but there was still a little bit of a haze to it. Here is a 50/50 of the front fender before and after polishing. As you can see the right side is a much deeper black and has more clarity.

So after about 15 hours of compounding and polishing we finally ended up with some pretty clear paint.

Of course we have to have a ton of sunny Florida shots!!!

And some great reflection shots!!! I even caught a jet flying over in this first one.

And finally some full car shots!!!

This car was 6 years old and has had a few years of washing abuse, but with the right techniques and products I was able to bring it back to life and make it look better than when it rolled off of the line.

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Chances are if you have ever owned a light colored vehicle, you have seen tiny red or rust colored spots on the finish. These spots are not your normal dirt and debris and do not come off with just a quick maintenance wash. They actually go beyond the top layer of your finish and some can be buried deep into the clear coat. A lot of people have no idea what these spots are, what causes them, or how to remove them. These spots are referred to as “rail dust”. They can be very frustrating and I’d like to share some helpful tips, otherwise the process can take hours to remove. Here is an example on this silver Range Rover:

What is Rail Rust:

Rail dust is a term used to describe tiny metal particles that have embedded themselves into your clearcoat. The term was originally used to describe dust that comes off of railroad rails. When vehicles are transported via train there is a lot of friction between the rails and the train wheels. Both parts are outside at all times so they have a built up level of rust on them. This rust flies into the air in dust particles when the train is moving. Eventually these particles settle on the vehicles being transported. They embed themselves into the clearcoat and still continue to rust causing tiny red or rust colored spots in the clearcoat. Vehicles that are transported uncovered are usually worse because of the finish being heated by the sun.

Rail dust does not just come from transportation though. It can come from almost anywhere; rust particle on the road from other cars, from nearby train tracks, from your disk brakes, or even from industrial areas. These particles can be very hard to remove but if you take a few special steps the removal process can be a lot easier and less time consuming.

How to remove Rail Dust:

First you will want to do a full wash using The Grit Guard 2×4 Wash Method. It is best to do this in a shaded area to help prevent swirl marks and because you will need to have the vehicle wet during a few of these steps.

Next you will want to use a product called CarPro Iron X Iron Removal on the vehicle. Iron X interacts with the contaminants embedded in your clearcoat and dissolves or loosens them. This is a very easy product to use and it gets the job done. All you have to do is mist it onto the vehicle, wait about 5 minutes for it settle, and then rinse it off. The product goes on clear but will turn to a dark purple color once it starts to interact with any contaminants in the clearcoat, including rail dust. This step will help loosen the particles and make them easier to clay out of the clearcoat.

TIP: Do not let the Iron X dry on the surface. If you’re worried about it drying on the surface do smaller sections of the car at a time.

Iron X is safe on all exterior surfaces and here is what it looks like on this Aston Martin wheel:

After the particles have been loosened move onto claying your vehicle. A good clay bar that is great on most paints is the DI Gentle Fine Grade Clay Bar. Some paint finishes are softer or harder than others so there is an Ultra Fine grade and Medium grade available also. When you are claying you will need to spray a lubricant onto the vehicles surface to reduce friction between the clay bar and the clearcoat. This will prevent any marring from occurring. I use Dodo Juice Born Slippery. It comes concentrated and makes about 2.5L of clay lube.

Start by spraying on the lubricant and then GENTLY rubbing the clay bar back and forth against the clearcoat. Clay one panel at a time so your lubricant doesn’t dry. You will feel the clay bar grab at first but once you make a couple passes it will glide smoothly. This is how you know the contaminants are being removed. If an area is still grabbing after a couple passes, make a couple more. It’s a good idea to go back and forth in both directions. Since rail dust is a red or rust color you will be able to see if it is still there or not. Some areas will need a little more elbow grease than others.

Once the surface feels nice and smooth then the contaminants (rail dust) should be removed. If they are not gone or being difficult to remove then repeat the previous Iron X step. Most of the time one application will do the trick, but if the rail dust has been there for a long time or is deeper than normal it might take an extra application.

Finish by rinsing off the vehicle and proceeding to the drying process.

Here are some before and after pictures of this process.

Before:

After:

Before:

After:

Once you are done you will have a nice and clean contaminant free surface!

After all that work you are going to want to apply a durable wax, sealant, or coating to help prevent rail dust from occurring again.

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